Aging Coal Plants Just Can't Compete

The Trump administration has been trying, at the request of politically connected coal and utility companies, to ram through emergency supports for coal-fired plants ever since it came into office.

It had been clear for a long time that market pressures and environmental controls had been pushing utilities to shut down the worst coal plants.

Dominion Power was no exception. It announced in 2012 that it would close Yorktown rather than invest in new pollution controls on mercury, a toxic pollutant that causes brain damage, developmental disorders and other ailments.